War on Gaza: Israel bombs tents, refugee camps, and service workers on a ‘brutal day

Israeli forces bombed the tents of displaced people and municipal workers operating water wells and homes across Gaza on Friday, killing more than 75 people in one of the bloodiest days for Palestinians in weeks. Artillery shelling and shooting from Israeli tanks targeted the displaced people who took refuge in the coastal Al-Mawasi area in Rafah, which the Israeli army had previously declared a “humanitarian zone.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least 25 Palestinians were killed in the attack, and 50 others were injured. Hours earlier, an Israeli strike hit a municipal facility in Gaza, killing at least seven people, including five workers operating water wells. Another attack on a house in the densely populated, war-torn Al-Shati refugee camp killed 10 people and injured 17 others.

Other fatal strikes were reported in Gaza’s Old City, the Zaytoun neighborhood, and the Nuseirat refugee camp. At least 30 people were killed across Gaza, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which has been operating minimally due to repeated Israeli attacks in recent months. Dr Naeem said it was a “difficult and brutal day” in the city.

The raids coincided with an intensification of Israeli ground attacks in almost all areas of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This included an advance towards the population centers in the west and north of the city. US President Joe Biden stated earlier that the Israeli attacks on population centers in Rafah would end Washington’s support for the Israeli war.

The escalation of the ground invasion in Rafah has led to heavy fighting in recent days, with sounds of explosions and gunfire regularly heard in the distance. It has also led to another wave of displacement of Palestinians, including those sheltering in “humanitarian zones” designated by Israel, with tanks approaching every day.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians inside their car in the city of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, in what residents described as targeted killing. Israeli forces said the two were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, resisted arrest, and opened fire first. The Israeli army said it was “investigating” the attacks on Al-Mawasi and a separate incident in Gaza, according to Reuters. The World Health Organization warned on Friday that the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, caused by the Israeli bombing and siege, is likely to worsen due to the scorching heat.

We have seen massive displacement over the past weeks and months, and we know that the combination of heat and heat can cause an increase in disease,” said Richard Peppercorn of the World Health Organization. We have water pollution due to hot water, and we will have more food spoilage due to higher temperatures. “We will get mosquitoes, flies, dehydration, and heatstroke.”

Peppercorn added that the daily “stops” announced by the Israeli army over the weekend did not affect the obstructed aid delivery. Mothers struggle to feed their children as Israel-created famine returns. The World Health Organization called for the reopening of the Rafah crossing, which Israel seized in early May. Subsequently, it was destroyed to facilitate aid and medical evacuation for 10,000 wounded people needing treatment abroad.

As the number of civilian deaths and the humanitarian situation continues to worsen, especially the growing hunger crisis in northern Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied deliberately targeting civilians or imposing a starvation policy. In an interview with the American conservative website Punchbowl News, Netanyahu described the accusations as a “bloody slander against the Jewish people.

These are two of these slanders directed at the Jewish state like they said that we killed Christian children to bake matzos in the Middle Ages or that we spread insects to poison the entire population,” he said. Human rights groups and UN experts have accused Israel of carrying out collective punishment against Palestinians since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, including using starvation as a weapon of war.